206 PRESTON ROMAN PAVEMENT. 



The room containing the pavement was ^ i feet square, and 

 the mosaic itself was about 1 5 feet square. The tesserae vary in 

 size and in shape. For the ordinary geometrical patterns of 

 corridors and so forth they exceed an inch square, whilst for the 

 work of delicate portions of the design some are less than half 

 that size ; and the square form is departed from as occasion 

 requires. The colours are, or were, black or brown, red, blue 

 or grey, and white or yellow, but the last are now hardly dis- 

 tinguishable. In many Romano-British mosaics, a row of 

 bluish tesserae is often interposed between the white row and 

 the red one. It should be noticed here that in the cable-pattern 

 the strand is composed of an outer and an inner line of black, 

 of a single line of red, and of a double line of white tesserae. 

 I venture to think that one of the latter, that next the red, 

 consisted of blue or grey, now utterly faded. The material is all 

 from the surrounding district, and is a little coarser than that 

 which composes the fine mosaic in Olga Road. The red 

 tesserae consist of broken tiles, and not of terra cotta ; the 

 black are Kimmeridge coal, and not a Devonshire marble ; the 

 white and bluish white are of Purbeck stone, of which beds 

 extend from Chalbury to Pox well. Near the latter place, an 

 exposure may be seen from which the banded specimen of blue 

 and white now shown was recently taken. By Mr. Crickmay's 

 drawing, prepared when the mosaic was uninjured, the scheme 

 can be easily understood. The management of the . tesserae 

 should be observed. The white ones which serve for filling-in are 

 arranged with skilful purpose. A special row of them follows 

 and supports all the chief lines of the design ; and a double 

 row emphasises the most important features. Even the tcsseral 

 joints possess a high value, for, set at right angles to the running, 

 they greatly enhance the beauty of the general effect. 



At the meeting of the Club twelve years ago, it was contended 

 that the pavement belonged to Christian times, because it con- 

 tained no pictures of heathen mythology ; but this view is, of 

 course, quite untenable. The design strikingly resembles in 

 type that of the Dorchester tesselation, and belongs, doubtless, 



